Red
by WanderingTeen
Summary: An orphan grows up and goes back to settle the score with the creature who destroyed her life. A retelling of Little Red Riding Hood. These aren't your grandma's fairy tails, girls. T for blood and whatnot.


**Red**

By the time they found the woman, she was dead.

The first to happen upon the body was the town doctor. He had gone out to check on one of his patients, who had been slowly dying in her small house for the last two years, and had happened upon the corpse of a woman, which was covered in wounds. She had a large knife clutched in her stiffening right hand, its tip painted with dried blood.

It almost appeared as though a bear-sized creature had struck her about the shoulders, chest and neck, though it was known that there was no such creature in the woods that surrounded the small town. They had a few wolves, but they had never hurt a human before.

Startled, he bent over her to see if anything could be done and made a disturbing discovery: she was holding a small child, whose white clothing was crisp and stained dark from the dried blood.

The child was _alive._

The doctor tore the child from the dead woman's grasp and ran back to his home, for it had been a very cold night and the little creature's lips were blue beneath the blood.

By the time the body had been removed, the doctor had cleaned the child and discovered that it was a little girl, no more than four. She had dark brown hair and even darker eyes, which showed no sign of recognition or fear. If she had been able to speak before, she could not do so now: she simply stared into nothingness as her bloody clothing was discarded and she was dressed in something less revolting.

It was decided later on that the doctor and his wife would adopt the little girl, as they were unable to have children of their own and the doctor felt terribly sorry for the little girl for having lost her mother in such a way.

They saw neither hide nor hair of the father and decided that she had been a bastard child. The little girl responded neither to spoken words nor bodily contact, but the doctor and his wife never gave up hope.

Within a year, the little girl became responsive and even began to speak, though she was never one for a long conversation. She grew up, slowly but surely, and soon her adoptive parents were speaking in hushed tones about marriage.

-

One fall night, when the moon was full, the seventeen-year-old girl dressed in a plain black dress and pulled on a pair of black boots. She took the knife that had been found in her mother's hand so long ago and, donning her favourite red cloak, she left what had served as her home for the last thirteen years of her life.

She was never seen again.

-

The girl walked quickly towards the edge of the town with purpose. Her black boots caused the fallen leaves to scuttle away as though in fear. After a while she left the town behind and moved into the woods which had surrounded it.

She remembered faintly, as though from a dream, that she had lived in the woods once with someone other than the doctor and his wife. As she went deeper and deeper into the woods the memories grew stronger, until she could vividly remember the life she had left behind... and the cause for such abandonment.

She found a path and followed it until she found an abandoned cottage. From the outside it almost looked quaint, with its round window and wooden door. Upon entering it, she found evidence of a struggle. The modest mattress, which had once been stuffed with something that resembled hay, was torn apart. Clothing littered the floor, and to one corner was a little doll, sewn from scraps. Blood painted the walls, and there were pieces of wrinkled, dried skin on the floor.

The girl knelt to pick up the doll, dropping the knife to the ground with a too-loud clatter.

-

_She had been so very little, and her mother and father were fighting. He had gone out to chop wood and come back with a huge bite. Since then he had been acting strange, and now, on the night of the full moon, he was acting stranger still._

_As the moon rose he struck her mother and his body began to shift into something that only vaguely resembled a man. His clothes tore, his skin peeled away, and soon her mother was facing a wolf creature. The little girl had cried out and the mother ran to take her from the wolf-man's sight. The creature struck out at her once, twice, three times, tearing skin and splashing blood against the walls. Her mother took a knife from the table and thrust it at the creature, drawing blood. It howled and ran from the cottage._

_The little girl felt warmth drip over her as her shaking mother lifted her from the mattress, where she had watched the fight. She ran panting from the house just as the wolf creature entered again from the window, tearing the furniture apart._

_As she was carried into the night, the little girl fell asleep, lulled by her mother's ever-slowing heartbeat._

_-_

In a moment she heard the sound of claws grating against wood and turned to see the creature from her nightmares. Its coarse fur moved with ever breath and its muscles shifted beneath its flesh as it took a step towards her, a low growl beginning in its throat. Its yellowed eyes met hers and it bared its dagger-like teeth. On its chest was a small scar where hair no longer grew, evidence of her mother's last fight.

She had brought the knife back to finish the job.

The creature lunged towards her and she jumped away, missing its claws by a hair and grasping the hilt of the knife as the wolf-man's body flew into the wall. She whirled round to face her attacker, her red hood falling back to reveal that her eyes were wilder than the creature's.

The creature lunged again and this time she held her ground. She brought the blade up and it met little resistance as it cleaved into the creature's chest cavity. She pushed it in up to the hilt. Blood trickled through the coarse hair and the creature stopped, its eyes meeting hers again.

The girl smiled and backed away, waiting until the creature had no strength left to hurt her before stepping forward to pull the weapon from the creature. Blood gurgled from the wound and the monster fell to its knees. She hefted her axe and spoke for the first time during their encounter.

"Goodbye, father."

She buried the knife in the creature's neck and it moved its clawed hands to the blade, trying to pull it from the wound. Blood spurted and some of the spray was caught glistening in the girls hair. She smiled wickedly as the creature slumped to the ground and turned her back as it began to change back into the man it had once been.

-

The girl found it quite easy to look about the cottage and find what she needed. She found a dented kettle and filled it from the well outside. She set it to boil on the old potbellied stove and pulled the gaunt corpse of the wolf man outside, her mind on other things. Perhaps she would remain in the cottage where she and her mother had lived together so many years before. After all, it was very quaint, and she found the silence of the woods calming.

The girl ran a hand through her hair, staining it red with the creature's blood. She heard the kettle whistle and went in to tend to it, the creature forgotten.

* * *

**AN:** Meh. For Halloween. I'm going to be little Red Riding Hood and I wanted a back-story for my costume.


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